Beckermet with Thornhill Parish Council

Mrs S Tucker (Clerk) 3 Wilton Mews [email protected] Wilton 01946 820607 Egremont CA22 2PJ

Minutes of Parish Council Meeting held on Wednesday 19th April 2017, 19:45hrs, at Thornhill Social Club

1) Present J Edwards, P Manning, S Meteer, K Woolley, K Cook, J Smith, D McGhee, S Caddy, S Tucker (Clerk),

2) Apologies D Humphreys

3) To declare any interest in items on the agenda SC on item 7, horse riders using the cycle ways.

4) To consider approvals of the minutes of previous meeting The minutes of the March 2017 meeting were approved.

5) Public participation M Rooney attended the meeting to present her petition to the council, requesting horses and ponies are banned from using the cycle paths through Thornhill. This has become a health hazard and safety issue for walkers and cyclists on the path. The Council agreed that SM should contact Sustrans and Highways to try to resolve the issue according to their policies. It was also suggested that it might be appropriate to write an article for Egremont Today and the Beckermet Newsletter to state our concerns pending the outcome of SM’s work to find a solution to the problem.

A Wilkinson and S Woodacre attended the meeting regarding a recent planning application CH/4/17/2139/0F1, which was received by the Parish Council on Tuesday 18th April and was consequently still being reviewed by the Parish Councilors. AW explained the history behind concerns regarding the effectiveness of the surface water drainage system on the Beck Rise estate, and explained that she was worried that her property may be flooded if the proposals made in the above planning application were completed. The Parish Council agreed to comment on the planning application, stating their desire that the effectiveness of the surface water drainage system be checked and proven to be adequate before the application was approved. The Council also told AW that it was important she made her concerns and/or objections clear to Copeland Borough Council and that she should make a formal request to view the planning application at CBC offices.

6) Finance It was resolved that the following payments should be made:

To Pay Comments Amount Sian Tucker January Salary - £368.30 £395.20 Clerk Internet - £15 Travel - £8 Expenses (stamps) – £3.90 Thornhill Social Club April meeting £20.00

7) Budget Update

The budget report provided by the Clerk was accepted without comment. At 18/04/2017, the Parish Council had spent £11,165.55 of the £13,871.94 precept. In addition, £1400 has been taken from the Parish Council’s reserves to pay for improvements to the parking area at the Thornhill football ground. The Parish Council noted that it had received income of £2,275.53 that included £1,479.20 of payments made to the Parish Council for utility services used by the Thornhill Football Clubs. The savings of £2706.39 made by the Parish Council from the 2016/17 precept would be transferred to the Parish Reserve fund for use on future projects within the Parish.

ST noted that she had completed the 2016/17 audit report. This will be submitted to the internal auditor for review before sending it to BDO.

The community governance review by CBC has been completed and the Parish Council has been informed that it will have a maximum of 12 rather than 14 councilors from April 2019.

8) Progress Reports

• Police Report PC Stuart Burgess sent a report for March / April. No comments were necessary.

• Traffic & Highways Report JE issued the up to date report for April which he had received earlier in the day from CCC. This will be discussed at the May meeting.

• Update on Beckermet Roads proposal by CCC ST had received the statutory notice from CCC that states the changes which are going to be made. This notice had been made available to the public via the PC website, and on Notice boards in Beckermet. No timescale was available. Any comments / complaints should be sent direct to CCC; not to the Parish Council. JE noted that the Parish Council had sent a letter to CCC making it clear that they did not support the proposals, but he had not yet received a reply.

The Parish Council noted that representatives of the small businesses in Beckermet had submitted an FOI request and a formal complaint to CCC regarding the proposals. The PC had not been signatories to the complaint. The businesses had received inadequate responses to the issues raised and as a result had recently raised a level 2 complaint.

CCC have agreed to meet with the businesses, but a date for the meeting has still to be agreed because of limited availability of CCC Councilors. The Parish Council will be invited to attend this meeting.

• Website Update DM reported the website is up to date. Statistics show on average 150 views of the website each month. Statistics also show the most visited pages being the minutes and news. Following discussion on the need to ensure the PC was complying with the Transparency Code of practice, DMc and ST agreed to work together to make sure the Council was compliant with the requirements.

• Lengthsman Scheme JS reported that the lengthsman had recently resigned and Works4U were interviewing for a replacement. JS noted that the PC will not be paying for a lengthsman while there is no one in position.

A response has been received from Beckermet Primary school governors regarding the school dyke wall. The Parish Council made it clear they were not happy with the response received and ST agreed to send the school a letter expressing our concerns and will also try to organise a meeting with the school, JS also to attend.

PM reported that CBC had arranged a Conservation Area Appraisal of Beckermet, and would like to attend a future meeting of the PC to explain the situation. It was agreed that the consultants should attend the May meeting to summarize their findings, and that it may be appropriate to arrange a more comprehensive meeting with the help of the BVA. PM agreed to contact CBC regarding attendance at the May meeting of the PC.

• Thornhill Football Club SM led the discussion about a possible provision of a store for equipment belonging to the Thornhill football clubs. The store would be used for equipment belonging to both football teams that use the existing facilities. Discussions had taken place with the teams on their requirements and an initial plan for an annex to the existing change room building had been drawn up free of charge, by a former Thornhill resident, Martin Hogg of MH Architectural Design Ltd. SM noted that following agreement with the Parish Council in March, a planning application had been submitted to CBC. SM noted that the estimated cost of the project was not yet known, but he would keep the Parish Council up to date with progress and provide details when they became available. It was hoped that the Parish Council would be making a significant contribution to the overall cost, although grants from elsewhere may also be available.

SM reported that 3 quotes had been requested for further work to improve the car park at the football club, and 2 replies had been received. One of the quotes received included liabilities that were unacceptable to the Parish Council. After some discussion, the Parish Council agreed to adopt the quotation provided by Mike Dowling. ST agreed to send a formal letter to Mr Dowling accepting the quotation.

SC and SM agreed to review the condition of the external door to the change rooms at the football club and to report back to the May meeting on any essential maintenance required.

9) Parish Action Plan JS confirmed the first meeting of the Steering Group for the Community Led Plan on the 30th March went ahead as planned, with 5 residents attending. This will determine the way in which the plan will be developed. ACT will be sending a representative to the next meeting.

The Parish Action plan will be discussed at the May PC meeting.

10) Planning Applications received No objections were recorded on the following planning applications that had been received and circulated since the March meeting.

• CH/4/17/2119/TP0 Crown reduction of beech tree protected by a tree preservation order. Townhead Cottage, Beckermet.

• CH/4/17/2105/0F1 Removal of condition one of planning approval 4/12/2127/0F1 to provide permanent planning permission for a single storey building at Site,

12) Meetings at which the council is represented

JE attended the SFMM held on the 18th April. The next meeting is scheduled for July. JE noted that reprocessing in Thorp was scheduled to be completed by end 2018 and reprocessing of Magnox fuel was on schedule to be completed by end 2020. As a result of this there will probably be significant reductions in manpower on the Sellafield site, although major new construction for wastes was also planned.

JE / PM attended the NuGEN/Moorside engagement meeting on the 11th April. At this meeting NuGEN had explained how they were carrying out their flood assessment and possible changes ENW might make to the existing 132KV supply lines in order to accommodate the 400KV supply grid from Moorside. NuGEN had commented that although some preliminary work may take place in the short term no large-scale work will take place until the NWCC proposal has DCO approval from UKG, and this was unlikely to be before NuGEN received DCO approval for Moorside. Then, on April 12, we received information from NuGEN that they had been instructed to pause the progression of Moorside towards the DCO2 application, whilst Toshiba undertook a strategic review of its options. The DCO2 application, originally scheduled for April 2017, did not have a new target date.

KW / SM attended the A595 group meeting to discuss concerns on the roads. The next meeting will be held on the 27th April at the Beckermet reading rooms.

13) Councilors reports

SC raised the ongoing issue of dog waste and litter in Thornhill and the request for a new bin at the end of Dent Road, Thornhill. ST to contact CBC once again to solve this problem and to seek a review of bin positions in Beckermet and Thornhill.

SM made the Council aware of the retaining wall outside the Thornhill Post Office. The wall is said to be leaning and the Post Office have been made aware.

SM also made the Council aware of the Better Highways website. Jobs requested to be done can be checked online dating back 3 months.

SC would like ST to contact Highways England regarding the missing bollard on the cycle track. SC has found the bollard and would like it to be repaired.

ST to contact Highways England to request the drains and gullies be cleared on the A595 from Sellafield to Egremont.

14) Next meeting The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 17th May, 7pm at the Beckermet Reading Rooms.